Recognise the software?

michaeloconnell wrote:
FWIW, I also came across this image - amazing detail!!
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070628.html [/quote]

Crikey! They used a TRACKED 25" SCOPE to get that! It's like looking through polaroid via the cargo bay of the Shuttle about a couple miles from it...

: blink:

Some excellent pics there!!

Can you break down HD video to frames for stacking?

The software looks like stacking software, when the object moves, the selection window follows it, then I guess it has to speak to the scope to tell it to over move in the direction the selection window moves..

Graham

I've been in touch with Mike previously about another matter so you could contact him via his web site

www.astrospider.com/

I found a kind of 'how to' on the other guys website,

Philip Masding Sat Track

Does the schemitic make sense to any of the learned folk here?

I will drop him an email to see if he is willing to part with a copy!

Graham

Looks very interesting alright. The schematic describes the process of determining the apparent motion of the object and then moving the scope to compensate. Should work 'in theory'. I just wonder how it might work in practice. What if it passed near a bright star might it lock onto the star? Also you will need a camera capable of pretty decent frame rates. I 'suspect' that a webcam might not be fast enough. You might need one of those 60fps jobs like a DMK or lumenera.

Graham: You cant really stack the images because satellites appear to change position and orientation from our point of view VERY quickly indeed. In my experiments even after 1/2 second two images can;t just be overlaid. What you do is search through your movie and pick the very best frame you can find and then process that one a bit more.

Method looks to be PID Loop control - used extensively in Industry to control changing variables in a manner that avoids oscillation about a desired set point. E.g if one wanted to maintain a temperature one would heat, cool and measure but there is a tendency to overshoot so the heating and cooling systems fight each other and temperature oscillates. PID loop control helps minimise or prevents this.

For more detail than you probably want see

lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/pid/PID.pdf

I'm sure one would be able to find algorithms for use on the PC in the pipeline between capture and control corrections to mount.

An ambitious adventure, me thinks, but very best of luck if you pursue this.

Mark